My friend Matt gave me a rash of grief yesterday about my generally favorable take on Cliff Wood's proposal to reconstitute the Providence City Council with 10 ward-based seats and five at-large seats. He equates the concept with downsizing democracy and says it would severely advantage deep-pocketed (white) candidates.

Speaking of Rhode Island's Future, David Segal has a report there on apparent plans by the Providence City Council to consider the inclusion of some at-large seats. Some progressives have championed this idea as a way to bring a broader outlook to the council, but the concept isn't without some downside:

It's my understanding that on Tuesday the City Council's Ordinance Committee will be taking a look at various plans to change the way we elect councilmembers.

Once upon a time, a pair of Providence city councilors found out that moving forward a progressive agenda was much more difficult than they thought would be the case. (Note: This is one of those dodgy older links that is highly irregular. Suffice it to say, it concerns a 2004 story I wrote in the Phoenix about how Miguel Luna and David Segal ran into a lot of frustration while trying to make progress in bringing First Source to fruition.

With Rhode Island's 2006 election season barely having passed, a potentially large field of prospective Democratic gubernatorial candidates is already shaping up for 2010, including Frank Caprio, David Cicilline, Patrick Lynch, Elizabeth Roberts and perhaps Charlie Fogarty. Cicilline has cultivated a lot of positive press since taking office in 2002, but any number of politically gifted mayors -- including Buddy Cianci and Boston's Kevin White -- have received rude awakenings when they've tried to run statewide.